The 1952 Crew Season
The Dartmouth varsity crew entertained LaSalle College of Philadelphia on the Connecticut River, April 19, in its first official contest of the season. The Indians were just back from their lengthy southern trip and initial-week problems did not contribute toward a good day in the heavies' only home showing of the season. Overall smoothness and two powerful sprints enabled LaSalle to cover the Henley distance in 6 min. 31 sec., for a 2½ length victory.
The next weekend Dartmouth competed on the Housatonic River, at Derby, Conn. The Yale third eight, touted as only 4 seconds slower than their own varsity and the smoothest crew Dartmouth faced all season, cleanly swept to a 1¼ length win. The Green jay-vees placed third, two lengths behind. Behind the fine stroking of Captain Jim To ffey, rowing at the position for the first time since his sickness early in the southern trip, the Green varsity pushed their opponents hard all the way, closing the gap by three-quarters of a length during the last quarter mile. It was Dartmouth's finest showing of the early season.
On May 2 the Dartmouth varsity staged a close race with Boston University on the Charles River. B.U. barely ruled by a three-quarter-length margin over the Big Green, who showed improvement over the previous week but rowed a weaker middle half of the race than was necessary to win. The jay-vees defeated their opponents by 1¼ lengths. On the following day both Dartmouth crews wound up a heavy rowing weekend on the Seekonk River in Providence. LaSalle, facing the Green for the second time, again ruled, but only by a disputed margin of six inches. Dartmouth surprised the winners with a blazing middle sprint which gained them the lead. The crews were even at the mile mark, however, and from then down to the line, the lead see-sawed back and forth. It was a vast improvement for the Green over their previous showing against LaSalle, and the Indians clearly beat Brown, in the triangular meet, by two lengths. The jay-vees again evidenced their power with a 10-length victory over the Brown second varsity.
In the final race of the season-Boston s annual Dad Vail Regatta, the Little Poughkeepsie" of the smaller rowing colleges—the Indian jay-vees swept to a 4-length victory over Amherst, Marietta, and Brown to win their event for the third consecutive year and permanently retire the Dad Vail J-V Trophy. Nine varsity crews participated in the feature event and the total spacing between them at the finish was a mere three lengths, ending one of the closest races in the regatta s 13-year history. The Dartmouth varsity placed third, narrowly losing to its old nemesis, two-year winner LaSalle, by three-quarters of a length, and by ½ length to Rollins. To finish third Dartmouth held off final drives by closely-packed Florida Southern, Marietta, and American International, thereby winning the Roy B. Couch Trophy, offered each time Dartmouth and Florida Southern compete in rowing. Seniors Jim Toffey, Jack Unkles, and Dave Chamberlain, all previous letter-winners, rowed their last varsity race for Dartmouth. Tuck School student Jack Gannon '51 took over the coaching responsibilities of both heavyweight crews immediately preceding the southern trip and guided them expertly throughout the season. His invaluable and fruitful work in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds should be highly commended. On May 10 at the Dad Vail Regatta Dartmouth had come a long way since March 4 when the rowing club had no boathouse, no shells, no oars, and no coach.
The 150-lb. crew, by defeating the Clark University varsity at Hanover by 2¼ lengths on May 3, indicated what it could do when not facing the strongest rowing colleges of the East, which are the only ones supporting lightweight crews. However, in competition with the 150's of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia and M.I.T. the Indians always gave a good account of themselves. On April 19, in a quadrangular meet at Boston with Harvard, Columbia and M.I.T. the lightweights finished fourth by a narrow margin after leading for half of the race. The following weekend the loss to Yale was by only 1¼ lengths.
